New Head Lice Data - OldDude Institute for Head Lice Studies
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So I get a parent request to check her daughter's hair for head lice; said she doesn't know what to look for but her daughter said her head was itching - and she has big, thick, hair. I was just... Read More

No, I stuck it on a piece of clear tape so mom would know what to look for. She didn't even want to touch it after it was encased in the tape.

LOL! Does mom not have the google machine at home?

Feb 20

Cockroaches do the whole whacky, waving, flailing, inflatable tube-man thing too when stuck on their backs.

We found a GIANT beast in the med room one day stuck on it's back, waving all it's hairy little legs screaming for a bit of help. We trapped it under a specimen cup (feeling brave) then high-tailed it out of there and called for housekeeping. A little bitty thing showed up and I felt real bad - however she was a practical young lady with more grit than all of us combined (some of our number were men): she raised the cup, lifted her heel and squashed it.

Cockroaches do the whole whacky, waving, flailing, inflatable tube-man thing too when stuck on their backs.

We found a GIANT beast in the med room one day stuck on it's back, waving all it's hairy little legs screaming for a bit of help. We trapped it under a specimen cup (feeling brave) then high-tailed it out of there and called for housekeeping. A little bitty thing showed up and I felt real bad - however she was a practical young lady with more grit than all of us combined (some of our number were men): she raised the cup, lifted her heel and squashed it.

Nah, I bet it wasn't giant compared to some I saw in the Yucatan. :^)

Feb 21

My nephew got lice last week! No one else had it at home, but him. We cleaned him up as much as we could and started treatment. I called the school nurse and told her about it so she could possibly check the other students or check him for me. But she said she's not allowed to do that anymore, which I found weird because I get to do that in my school and check other kids hair if another student had it, but I have to send a letter home first to the families about it so they can check themselves first before I do.

My favorite clinical instructor, a critical care clinical instructor, told me more than 20 years ago me she & her girlfriend lived in Hawaii for a bit of time. They lived in a building that had an insane number of floors - they lived on the 27th floor I believe. She said HUMONGOUS roaches used to fly onto their patio. They called them "747 roaches". Shudder …

But for Tucson ours was a fairly large specimen. Big enough to be able to turn it's head to watch you check it out taking it's measure - and it had a discernable face!

My nephew got lice last week! No one else had it at home, but him. We cleaned him up as much as we could and started treatment. I called the school nurse and told her about it so she could possibly check the other students or check him for me. But she said she's not allowed to do that anymore, which I found weird because I get to do that in my school and check other kids hair if another student had it, but I have to send a letter home first to the families about it so they can check themselves first before I do.

I posted this information a couple years ago - "BA" - Before Amethya...The nurses in our district were resisting doing classroom head checks over 10 years ago. The district was still on the fence until, one day, they were visited by an attorney representing parents of one of our elementary school kids alleging an illegal search of the student's body and negligence on the school nurse's part for "touching" the child's head without health concerns for the child; associated with a classroom head lice check. Nothing ended up in court but that compelled the district to discontinue classroom lice checks. Lice prevalence has remained unchanged since we discontinued doing classroom head checks. School district policies like your's arise from the district being under the thumb of the hysteria driven public. Head Lice were taken off of the communicable disease chart for conditions to be excluded from school by the Texas Dept. of Health.

I posted this information a couple years ago - "BA" - Before Amethya...The nurses in our district were resisting doing classroom head checks over 10 years ago. The district was still on the fence until, one day, they were visited by an attorney representing parents of one of our elementary school kids alleging an illegal search of the student's body and negligence on the school nurse's part for "touching" the child's head without health concerns for the child; associated with a classroom head lice check. Nothing ended up in court but that compelled the district to discontinue classroom lice checks. Lice prevalence has remained unchanged since we discontinued doing classroom head checks. School district policies like your's arise from the district being under the thumb of the hysteria driven public. Head Lice were taken off of the communicable disease chart for conditions to be excluded from school by the Texas Dept. of Health.

BA... xD

Thanks for the information! I thought it was weird because when I was a child I remember the nurse checking us in class, with our heads down. But that was YEARS ago.

Feb 21

We will always need to keep educating "our people". Who better to do it than us! I have a perfect example that I have been able to make some strides in the right direction.
This really happened last week:

One of my secretaries to me: Hey, so and so's teacher got a text from someone who wants to remain anonymous, that YOU need to check her head for lice. (No other information given. As she told me, I could tell that she thought this was not going to fly very far with me)
Me: I have to have a reason to check a student. I cannot just pull one out of class randomly.
Secretary: I know. But, I was supposed to pass that along to you.
Me: Tell the teacher that if she happpens to see the student scratch her head a little extra. To send her to me. Other than that, no way.

Teacher sends the student to me 2 times for minor things. Never once did she mention her head itching. So, both times, I sent her back to class, after I addressed what her actual complaint was.

At the end of the day. The secretary asked if I had checked the student. I said nope, that the teacher sent her to me 2 times for minor things; but I never had a reason to check her head. The secretary said..."I told the teacher that you just can't randomly check kids anymore."

My thought bubble was saying: YAAAAAAAAAAY!!! I have made some progress!

We will always need to keep educating "our people". Who better to do it than us! I have a perfect example that I have been able to make some strides in the right direction.
This really happened last week:

One of my secretaries to me: Hey, so and so's teacher got a text from someone who wants to remain anonymous, that YOU need to check her head for lice. (No other information given. As she told me, I could tell that she thought this was not going to fly very far with me)
Me: I have to have a reason to check a student. I cannot just pull one out of class randomly.
Secretary: I know. But, I was supposed to pass that along to you.
Me: Tell the teacher that if she happpens to see the student scratch her head a little extra. To send her to me. Other than that, no way.

Teacher sends the student to me 2 times for minor things. Never once did she mention her head itching. So, both times, I sent her back to class, after I addressed what her actual complaint was.

At the end of the day. The secretary asked if I had checked the student. I said nope, that the teacher sent her to me 2 times for minor things; but I never had a reason to check her head. The secretary said..."I told the teacher that you just can't randomly check kids anymore."

My thought bubble was saying: YAAAAAAAAAAY!!! I have made some progress!

Maybe if the teacher comes clean and finally requests a lice check through the proper channels you can convince her they are Yucatan head lice?

l love your thinking! I am giddy with excitement of how much fun I could have with THAT!

Not sure if you have kids and ever watched Invader Zim, but there is a whole episode about the dreaded "Lice Queen" (she moves from school to school, laying eggs and infesting all the children with head lice: